Hasui 巴水: Evening in Beppu 別府の夕 (Sold)

Artist: Kawase Hasui (1883-1957)
Title: Evening at Beppu 別府の夕
Series: Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series (Tabi miyage dai sanshu) 旅のおみやげ第3弾
Date: 1929

A row of glowing windows shine in the distance behind this wintry scene of bare trees that live in a stone wall along a riverbank. Hasui and the printers anc carvers have taken on the challenge of an unusual viewing angle of a challenging focal point during the time of late dusk. The palette is therefore restricted to greys and blues, with only the windows providing contrast. As Narazaki wrote: The bare tree here resembles a srusuberi [Indian lilac]; its leaves have been shed and its branches are splayed. Taking the tree as the central motif, the eye is effectively led from it to the row of houses and then to the mountain in the background. The depiction of the riverbed is also fine and the handling of the embankment is interesting.” Six rivers run through Beppu City in Oita Prefecture, so it is difficult to name this exact place. One can be sure that the view is much changed today. With the early Watanabe seal in the right margin that was used between 1928 and 1932.

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition. 
Dimensions: ôban (26.7 x 39.4 cm)
Publisher: Watanabe
Literature: Brown/Hotei #143. See Art Institute of Chicago, San Diego Museum of Art.
Seal: Kawase
Signature: Hasui

SKU: HAS565